News Release

July Events for Honouliuli National Historic Site 10th Anniversary Commemoration

News Release Date: July 7, 2025 WAIPAHU, Hawaii – Honouliuli National Historic Site, as part of its year-long 10th anniversary celebration, is hosting a series of events and activities every month through January 2026.
 
The park and its over 55 partners will honor and preserve this history by featuring different aspects of the park -- past, present, and future -- to connect and engage the community to this history. The park tells the story of incarceration, martial law, and prisoners of war in Hawaii during World War II. The incarceration site, opened in 1943, was the largest and longest used incarceration site in Hawaii where U.S. residents and citizens of Japanese and European ancestry were unjustly detained. The camp also held over 4,000 prisoners of war including Okinawans, Koreans, Japanese, and Italians.
 
Events and activities are a mix of virtual and in-person and includes a speaker series, special tours, book events, pop-up exhibits, film screenings, panel sessions, musical performances, youth and school initiatives, and a statewide art exhibit. Many events will be free through the park’s partnership with its non-profit organization, Pacific Historic Parks.    
 
The latest information on all events and activities are on the park’s website, www.nps.gov/hono. Also visit the park’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/honouliulinps) or Instagram (www.instagram.com/honouliulinps). 
 
July events:
 
Virtual talk: Life in Honouliuli for Okinawan POWs: Clues Revealed in Documents, Oral Histories and Memoirs. Kaori Akiyama is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Japanese Studies in the Graduate School of Humanities at Osaka University. Okinawan Prisoners of War (POWs) were the last group among four major ethnic groups of POWs to arrive in Hawaiʻi during and immediately following WWII. This presentation will examine clues that reveal details of their lives in Honouliuli based on US military documents, interviews and their memoirs in Japanese.
When: Saturday, July 19 at 3 p.m.  
Where: This is a free virtual talk. However, registration is required to get the link for the talk. 
 
Virtual talk: From the Ryukyu Kingdom to Honouliuli: Okinawan POWs in Historical Context. Dr. Brandon Marc Higa is a lecturer in law with a doctor of juridical sciences and juris doctor degrees from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law. Dr. Higa’s presentation provides historical background on Okinawa before World War II. He will trace Okinawa’s transformation from the independent Ryukyu Kingdom to its annexation as a Japanese prefecture in 1879, highlighting the complex political and cultural shifts that shaped Okinawan identity under imperial rule. This historical context helps explain the distinct experiences of Okinawan POWs at Honouliuli and other internment sites, setting them apart from other Japanese detainees.
When: Saturday, July 26 at 3 p.m.  
Where: This is a free virtual talk. However, registration is required to get the link for the talk. 
 
Honouliuli National Historic Site Traveling Pop-Up Exhibit: The Kapolei Public Library will be the home of Honouliuli National Historic Site’s traveling pop-up exhibit. Visit the exhibit to learn about the history of Honouliuli and the featured books carried by the library related to Honouliuli.
When: The month of July 
Where: Kapolei Public Library, 1020 Manawai St, Kapolei, HI 96707. 
 
Photos and videos are available for download.  The park and its partners are available for interviews and news segments.
 
Programs are subject to change or cancellation without notice.
 
-NPS-
 
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 430+ national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.